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DuckDuckGo Adds AI Voice Chat to Duck.ai With Privacy Protections

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DuckDuckGo has announced new voice chat capabilities for Duck.ai, the private AI chatbot platform it launched last March.

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The new feature lets users have real-time voice conversations with large language models (LLMs) through an encrypted relay connection. OpenAI provides the LLMs that power voice chats, but DuckDuckGo says that neither it nor OpenAI stores any audio after conversations end.

"Voice chats in Duck.ai are private, anonymized by us, and never used to train the underlying AI," the company said in its announcement. OpenAI is also contractually limited in how it can use voice chat data. Here's how DuckDuckGo describes the service:
DuckDuckGo protects your audio stream and voice data in several ways, to ensure it can only be accessed by OpenAI, (the model provider for voice chats) and only for the purpose of responding to your prompts:
  • Ephemeral processing: Your live audio is streamed only while you're speaking. Once the session ends, neither DuckDuckGo nor OpenAI keeps recordings of your voice.
  • No training: Your audio and the model's responses are not used to train AI models.
  • Secure connection: Audio streams are encrypted in transit through WebRTC and our relay server.
  • Zero data retention: Neither DuckDuckGo nor OpenAI retains any conversation data after you end a voice chat.
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The feature works in most browsers except for Firefox, for which support is still in the works, according to the company. Voice chat is free within daily limits and doesn't require an account, while subscribers ($10/month) get higher daily limits in addition to DuckDuckGo VPN access, Personal Information Removal, and Identity Theft Restoration.

Users can disable voice chat at any time through Duck.ai's settings if they change their mind about using the feature. Duck.ai also offers access to non-voice models from OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic, and Mistral.

Article Link: DuckDuckGo Adds AI Voice Chat to Duck.ai With Privacy Protections
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/10/duckduckgo-adds-voice-chat-duck-ai/
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This is all well and good if there’s a “AI features” switch somewhere in the settings for me to toggle off.

Edit for future quotes: /s.
 
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I tend to turn off all AI features in most things. I use DDG but have no desire for AI in my searches, and especially my voice.
 
Besides the concerns with what the AI providers might do with info, bear in mind that DDG is based in the US, so all of its privacy promises are tainted by what the government and it's agencies demand of the company.
Look instead to AI providers in the EU, where privacy and security laws are much more stringent - even with governments.
 
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Rradcircless said:
This is all well and good if there’s a “AI features” switch somewhere in the settings for me to toggle off.
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There is. It’s called „Not using software with AI in its name or feature set“.

Seriously, you don’t expect an „AI toggle“ in Duck.AI, do you?
 
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Bazza1 said:
Besides the concerns with what the AI providers might do with info, bear in mind that DDG is based in the US, so all of its privacy promises are tainted by what the government and it's agencies demand of the company.
Look instead to AI providers in the EU, where privacy and security laws are much more stringent - even with governments.
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You are being a bit naive, if you think that if a government entity (in any Country) wants your data, they wont get it, they are in charge of shaping and enforcing the laws.
 
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marte91 said:
You are being a bit naive, if you think that if a government entity (in any Country) wants your data, they wont get it, they are in charge of shaping and enforcing the laws.
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True, but the US is particularly egregious as the land of the free has the Patriot Act etc.
 
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marte91 said:
You are being a bit naive, if you think that if a government entity (in any Country) wants your data, they wont get it, they are in charge of shaping and enforcing the laws.
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Its true the government may not want your data, but hardly naive to know they can access it if they so wish in the US - for any purpose. Even mistakenly.
As for being in charge of shaping and enforcing laws - Trump's America has shown those individuals and entities responsible can completely abdicate any responsibility for those if it doesn't suit their leader or pocketbook.
 
Bazza1 said:
Its true the government may not want your data, but hardly naive to know they can access it if they so wish in the US - for any purpose. Even mistakenly.
As for being in charge of shaping and enforcing laws - Trump's America has shown those individuals and entities responsible can completely abdicate any responsibility for those if it doesn't suit their leader or pocketbook.
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Maybe I'm getting old, but i always assume the government have access to my data, privacy in this day and age is an illusion, i wish it wasn't but it is, and about trump, you can replace his name with any other leader in the world, politicians will do what they always do, that is whatever is better for them.
 
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